Jon Othar

Jón Óttar Ragnarsson aka Jon Othar is an acclaimed author and director from Reykjavik, Iceland, now based in Southern California. Jon Othar has made over 200 television programs as a writer, director and host. Jon Othar was the founder of Scandinavia's first private television station, the hugely successful Channel 2-Iceland (Stöð 2). Some of his most popular programs were interviews with national and international stars and leaders, including CNN founder Ted Turner, Nobel-prize winner Halldór Laxness, opera virtuoso Renata Scotto, fabled filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud and President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, among many others. For his pioneering achievement in television, Jon Othar received the prestigious Scandinavian Marketing Award in 1989. In 2004, he wrote, directed and produced a feature-length documentary about his favorite poet Steinn Steinarr for Icelandic television. His latest TV project was the highly acclaimed 8-part travel-adventure series, Hidden Iceland. In it he, along with various local and international celebrities including Yoko Ono, visited many of Iceland's stunning hidden treasures and unearthed some of its most haunting mysteries. Jon Othar has written 6 books, including two bestsellers and hundreds of articles. He has also produced dozens of radio programs. Jon Othar is currently working on a number of screenplays, including a thriller set in Oxford, England. Jon Othar is the son of Iceland's legendary art patron and publisher, Ragnar Jónsson í Smára.